Ryu's Journal
by Ryu Taylor the Ferret
Summary: Just a journal Ryu Taylor writes about a variety of topics. Reviews are included (needless to say, reviews have spoilers in them).
1. May 5, 2014 - Nothing Happened

May 5, 2014

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Wel, I just got a journal app for my 3DS, and sins Brain Age tot me how to rite, I figgered I mite as wel use this app. So, I'll be using this journal to rite abot wat happens here in the Littlest Pet Shop Day Camp.

Today, nothing much happened. Just a normal day. So boring, I slept a lot. Couldn't wate to get home to finish waching a show I had to pause when I was dropped off here. I hop tomorrow will be more intersting.

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**A/N: As a ferret, Ryu doesn't have the advanced spelling skills of a human.  
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	2. May 6, 2014 - Sailor Moon season 1

5-6-2014 - Sailor Moon season 1

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First things first: I had Russell spell-check this entry for me.

With that out of the way, I have a pop quiz for you all: who fights evil by moonlight and wins love by daylight? Answer: she is the one named Sailor Moon!

I love my technical ingenuity. I figured out how to wire the TV to play what's on my 3DS, so I just use the YouTube app to show videos to the other pets. For the past two weeks, I've been showing Sailor Moon episodes to the other pets, some of whom like it, and some don't. And by "some don't", I mean Vinnie. Zoe was initially turned off by Serena's hairdo, but found aspects of the show to like (although she still can't get over the hairdo). And since I'm about to finish the second season (I'm watching the show at home, too), I figured I'd give my thoughts on the first season (the Dark Kingdom arc as it's known in Japanese; in English, it's called the Negaverse arc). As of this entry, I have only seen the English dub and have only very basic knowledge of what was changed between languages, which I'll get into later. As such, I will be calling the characters by their dub names (i.e.: Serena instead of Usagi, Malachite instead of Kunzite, etc.).

I'll start by saying that I think this show is the best girly show I've ever seen. This show is a go-to example to make a girly thing epic (after all, it's said to be an inspiration for such franchises as Tokyo Mew Mew, Powerpuff Girls, and even My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic; don't quote me on that). I've heard it said that this was the first Magical Girl show that had said magical girls fighting against actual villains rather than Barbie-ing around. Even if this wasn't the first show of that genre to do that, it was the codifier of it.

At first, it may seem annoying that Serena is an airheaded wimp, even when she assumes the identity of Sailor Moon. But, looking back, that is a bit of a refreshing concept to have the main character not start out as a brave, invincible juggernaut (after all, look how well that worked for the partner character in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon – Explorers of Sky). It created a character arc for Sailor Moon to grow into her job as a warrior, and live up to what's expected of her. As an example, she goes from crying and whining in the corner in the beginning to taking out Malachite in just one shot in episode 39 (which, so far, is my favorite Sailor Moon moment). It helps that she has such great friends in the form of the other Sailor Scouts to help out, as well as the mysterious Tuxedo Mask. And although they're not dwelled on nearly as much as Sailor Moon's, the other scouts' character arcs were interesting to experience (too bad the dub cut out one of the most interesting ones, although there was a more-than-justified reason for that).

This one season has five arcs, which I'll be naming after the villains that oversaw them. Episodes 1 to 10 were the Jedite arc, episodes 11 to 20 were the Nephlite arc, episodes 21 to 31 were the Zoicite arc, and episodes 32 to 39 were the Malachite arc, which left episode 40 to be the Queen Beryl/Metalia arc. To be honest, the season starts showing its best stuff after Jedite dies (which meant the end of the repetitive formula of, as The Nostalgia Critic put it, "please get in this evil device which is in no way an evil device. Joke's on you, it was an evil device!") and out of all of them, the Zoicite arc was my favorite (even though my overall favorite season 1 episode was episode 39). In that arc alone, we got two more Sailor Scouts (Jupiter and Venus), Artemis, the emergence of Princess Serena and the Imperium Silver Crystal, and some of the most impressive scenarios of the show (as well as the most hilarious episode IMO, the one about the alley cats; that's episode 27, if you're wondering). Not to mention Zoicite is one serious baddie. See, my top-ranked villains are based on how much I hated them. Zoicite is in the top five of that category. She never, ever fights fair, she always resorts to the cheapest possible tactic, and she was even willing to deliberately disobey her queen in the name of revenge (bonus points for lying right to Queen Beryl's face about it; too bad for her that her queen didn't buy it for a second).

As I've said before, I only saw this season in English. That is, with just one exception. I had mentioned that there was a character-focused episode that the dub cut out for a very good reason (for the record, I'm on the dub's side of this issue). You see, it told a bit about what Sailor Venus was doing before joining up with the other Sailor Scouts, and it mentioned that she got a boyfriend while she was in London. Well, after an accident happens that causes said boyfriend (as well as another woman who Venus was good friends with) to assume she had died, the boyfriend hooks up with the other lady (named Katarina), and although it greatly upsets Venus, she decides that it's better that those two be happy together than cause a love triangle complex. But that wasn't why the dub skipped this episode. Malachite turns Katarina into the episode's monster, and although Sailor Moon at this point has the power to heal people and turn them back from monsters back into their real selves, hearing about the breakup causes her to not want to. So instead, she comes at Katarina with her tiara. That's the reason why this episode was skipped: it wouldn't look good to America for a kid show's hero to contemplate cold-blooded murder (of which Sailor Moon was talked out of by Sailor Venus, which showed a very strong moral ethic; she holds no grudge against Katarina for taking her boyfriend from her. Also kudos to Sailor Moon for obliging Venus's request.).

(Sorry to sound like Tumblr, but TRIGGER WARNING for romantic preference for this next part): One well-known change from this season (which was so significant that it named the "She's a Man in Japan" trope on TVTropes) was the changing of Zoicite's gender. Of course, he already had a feminine appearance, so the dub could get away with making him a woman (all they had to do was cast a female VA for the part; no animation edits necessary). This was done in order to change his homosexual relationship with Malachite into a heterosexual relationship. Although this wouldn't be nearly as famous a case as when the dub made cousins out of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune (from season 3), instead of a lesbian couple like they were in Japanese. I think the reason why the Zoicite/Malachite coverup was less famous was because they weren't biologically related in any language. So when Uranus and Neptune became cousins, people cried "INCEST!" at the dub. And honestly, I gotta admit that it was a really stupid move on the dub's part, even though I haven't gotten to that part yet. To me, incest is more wrong than homosexuality is.

But by far the biggest change to season 1 was the season finale. In Japanese, it was a two-parter. In English, it was just one part, and boy did the dub hide a lot. To put the Japanese version of the finale into a famous Patrick Starr quote: "Everyone died. The end." No joke; the Sailor Scouts all died in that finale. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus all get killed by Queen Beryl's remaining soldiers (the Doom and Gloom Girls), and only Sailor Moon makes it into the Negaverse castle to face Queen Beryl. And then, after turning the brainwashed Tuxedo Mask back to normal, he dies shortly after attacking Beryl. And then, Sailor Moon dies after killing Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia's fused form. As I've never seen the Japanese episodes, I don't know what brought them all back to life (except for Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia; they stay dead). I read on the Sailor Moon wiki that they all really did die, and five girls in their exact image returned to the world. So, reincarnation, maybe? It'll be clear once I start seeing Japanese episodes.

Anyway, Sailor Moon's first season was quite an experience. And once I finish the second season ,expect an entry on that.

Sailor Moon season 1: 90/100

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**A/N: Fun fact: Mew from my third Hope and Faith saga story was based on Zoicite. Also, my apologies to those who take issue with everything I said regarding the Zoicite and Malachite and the Uranus and Neptune coverups.**


	3. May 22, 2014 - Hiatus Explanation

5-22-14 - An Explanation

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For those of you wondering why there's been such a long hiatus, it's because we had to wait until we got a new TV for the Day Camp. You see, it got broken on the morning of May 10th. And by that, I mean I got angry at the program airing that morning and I threw my 3DS at the TV and knocked it over. The 3DS was quickly replaced (and I still have all my data, since I removed the SD Card from my old one before I broke it over the TV), but the TV took a bit longer. Plus, I had to go above and beyond to get everyone's respect back. We all agreed never to have "My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic" playing on TV near me ever again, lest we lose _this_ TV, too. Once I leave, everyone else will finally find out how season 4 ended. Personally, I couldn't care less. All I'm focused on is finishing the second season of Sailor Moon (aka the season "The Crystal Empire" desperately tried to be, only to fail worse than this new season's attempt to emulate the final battle of "Avatar - the Last Airbender") so that I can properly review it. Hopefully that will happen soon.

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**A/N: Ryu's much more cynical than I am. I'm only being facetious when I make those outrageous claims that MLPFiM ripped off Sailor Moon and AtLA, and I've long since outgrown throwing things at a TV in anger. But the fact of the matter still stands that I have nothing but loathing for MLPFiM. Feel free to tell me how season 4 ended if you want to. The real explanation of this hiatus is a simple one: uninspiration.  
**

**Anyway, a new review should be coming soon.**


	4. May 29, 2014 - Announcement

May 29, 2014 - Announcement

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Long ago, I was asked if I would take any requests. Being as I'm in a bit of a rut right now, the answer is yes. Send some suggestions to me in a PM (up to three suggestions will be allowed until I post another entry on this journal), and I'll decide which one to do a review on. However, I likely won't be able to get to them in a timely manner (especially if I get a request to review something I've never seen/read/played), and I still have some reviews planned. So, what have you got for me?


	5. June 11, 2014 - Plunder and Lightning p1

June 11, 2014 – Plunder and Lightning part 1

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**("TaleSpin" spoiler alert)**

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Even though I've only seen two pilots of Disney Afternoon shows, I think it might be a pattern: the pilots are usually the most exciting episodes of these shows. TaleSpin's "Plunder and Lightning" is no exception. This pilot episode is so epic that it actually had to be split into four episodes (and also epic enough to get nominated for an Emmy Award). Yeah, remember when TV shows used to do that? Or did they ever do that? Being a fifteen-year-old ferret, I wouldn't know. But anyway, "Plunder and Lightning"!

Now _this_ is how you get the audience's attention from the word "go"! Part one's beginning gives a great idea of what to expect from this show when it gets to its best bits. In that scene alone we are introduced to the show's primary antagonist (the air pirate captain Don Karnage) and also one of the two main protagonists (the cloud-surfing Kit Cloudkicker). The setting is a rather exciting air raid scene in which Don Karnage plunders a passing plane for a valuable item of some sort, only for Kit to swipe it from him and escape with it. And the place he escapes to is where we meet the show's main character, Baloo. Also, we meet Louie, who will be a regular in the series. So, all in all, major points to how well introduced these cast members are. But that's not where the character introductions stop, though, but we'll get to that soon.

As for the setting, Cape Suzette (and yes, that is a pun on Crepe Suzette) is easily in my top 3 fictional locations I'd love to actually exist. Cliffs surrounding the place, with guns stationed on top of them to deter intruders, a net keeping all dangerous sea life out of the bay (that was introduced in a later episode, though), and the city itself all make for one of the best settings ever for a TV show. Canterlot only wishes it were as great as this place. Anyway, this is where Baloo makes his home. Though the arrival of a bill collector signifies that his plane may stop being his soon. As skilled a pilot as Baloo is, he's very lazy in his work, and now, the bills have caught up to him. His motto of working only when he has to translates out as the classic "why do today what I can do tomorrow?" mentality of lazy people. And now is the time when the consequences appear. So, now that we've been introduced to a sizable portion of the cast, now we have some proper stakes. And I'm liking where this is going, especially when Kit mentions to Baloo that he hid something at Louie's that could be worth the money Baloo owes. And being as the job he had taken out of desperation ended in disaster, he's going to need whatever this item is.

And that's the note the first part ends on. In the next part, we meet the rest of the main cast and find out what it was Don Karnage was after.

And also, I'll be giving my thoughts on this entire pilot episode once I finish going over all four parts of it.


End file.
